The Best Lasagna

I have made a few different lasagna recipes (including that of my Italian grandmother) and sorry nan, but this one takes the cake!  Everything holds together so perfectly and the flavour is just right, and most importantly it gets Mark's approval! Check out Food Wishes for a video.  Since Mark is gluten-free and I don't feel like eating his gluten-free pasta, I have to make this recipe in 2 smaller dishes, but I'm sure the amount of ingredients would be the same in one big dish.

Oh and you know what else?  You can use all these same ingredients for baked ziti (or baked penne) if you like.  Just cook the pasta, drain it, mix it with pasta sauce and the cheese mixture from below, spread it out in a large glass baking dish, top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese, cover with foil and bake for an hour (take cover off for the last 15 minutes) and VOILA! You have some excellent baked ziti!

Lasagna 
Yields two 20 x 20 cm baking dishes

Ingredients:

• Lasagna sheets (it's best if you soak them in warm water first, but you can skip this if you are in a hurry)
• A large jar of your favourite pasta sauce (or if you have the time, make your own!)

Cheese mixture:

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 kg (2 lbs) ricotta cheese
• 225 g (8 oz) mozzarella cheese, cubed or shredded
• 2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese 
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley

What you do:

Soak the lasagna sheets in warm water for ~30 minutes and mix together the ingredients for the cheese mixture in a bowl.  Then:

1. Spoon some sauce on the bottom of the baking dish
2. Lay out the lasagna sheets in a single layer
3. Spread out some of the cheese mixture over the noodles
4. Drizzle some sauce over top the cheese mixture (don't use too much or it will be too saucy!).  You could even just do a few big globs
5. And then do as many layers as you want in this order: noodles, cheese, sauce, repeat
6. For the final layer you sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan cheeses over top the sauce

Bake covered for 30 min and uncovered for 30 min in 190 C (375 F) oven.

Let it cool for about 10 minutes and then enjoy! 

Recipe Source: Food Wishes

Corn Potato Chowder

This corn chowder is actually really really tasty.  I developed it myself and after a few attempts, I have tweaked it so it's just perfect.  P.S. the pinch of cayenne pepper is absolutely essential, it won't make it spicy!


Corn Potato Chowder
Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 stalk celery, minced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• pinch cayenne pepper
• 4 cups water (or chicken stock)
• 3 small red potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch dice
• 3 cups frozen sweet corn kernels
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• freshly ground black pepper

What you do: 
  
In a stockpot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, celery, garlic, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until the onion and celery begin to soften.


Add potatoes then water to pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Partially cover and simmer gently for about 15 minutes or until potatoes are completely soft.  Add corn and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in milk and cream and heat very gently for 1 minute more. Add the pinch of cayenne pepper.


Puree with stick blender to your desired thickness. You can add a tablespoon of corn starch if you like.


Season with pepper and cayenne, ladle into bowls, serve with crusty bread.

Refrigerator Pizza

This is my favourite pizza.  It's called refrigerator pizza because I was looking in my refrigerator one night and this is what I had lying around.  The combination of ingredients is so tasty that I now use these toppings every time!

Refrigerator Pizza

Makes about 2 large pizzas and one little pizza

Ingredients:

• 500 g mushrooms sliced
• 1 red capsicum sliced thinly  
• 1 red onion sliced thinly 
• 3 cups of raw spinach 
• cherry tomatoes   
• Grated parmesan cheese  
• Feta cheese 
• Grated mozzarella cheese

What you do: 

Make your pizza crust dough and bake the crust ahead of time (or use store bought).  Then preheat the oven, and pizza stone if using, to 500° (260 C) while you prepare the toppings.

Sauté the vegetables in a couple of teaspoons of olive oil while the crust bakes (I like to use garlic olive oil, but that's not essential)

Assemble the pizza as follows:

• Drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of good quality olive oil over the pre-cooked crust.
• Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the drizzle of olive oil. 
• Spread the sautéed vegetables, one by one, over the pizza.  Their order doesn’t matter.  
• To finish off the pizza and to prevent the topping from burning, crumble the feta cheese over everything and then end with the mozzarella cheese.

Place the pizza in the 500° (260 C) oven on the preheated pizza stone. If you don’t own a pizza stone, a pizza pan works just fine and doesn’t require preheating.  If you don’t have a pizza pan, use a cookie sheet.  It cooks fairly quickly, so watch it and remove when it starts to brown.